The Magic Flute Comes to the Dallas Opera, 4/20-5/6

The Dallas Opera presents the finale of its 2011-2012 "Tragic Obsessions" Season: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's comic-drama, THE MAGIC FLUTE (Die Zauberflöte), opening Friday, April 20, 2012 at 7:30 PM in the Margot and Bill Winspear Opera House at the AT&T Performing Arts Center.

This production is made possible with support from Production Underwriters Diane and Hal Brierley and TACA.

Five subsequent performances of THE MAGIC FLUTE have been scheduled for April 22(m), 25, 28, May 4 & 6(m), 2012. FLEX subscriptions are still available, beginning at just $75, and single tickets start at $25. Contact the Dallas Opera Ticket Services Office at 214.443.1000 for more information or purchase online, 24/7, at dallasopera.org.

"This production from Lyric Opera of Chicago," says Dallas Opera Artistic Director Jonathan Pell "is the most magical Magic Flute I've ever experienced. It's been revived there, time and again, because it's so immensely popular but it's a production that could never have been done in our previous performance venue.

"Our move to the Winspear Opera House has finally made it possible to bring this incredibly charming, classic, August Everding production to Dallas and we've gone out of our way to stack-the-deck with the addition of a delightful cast."

Mozart's THE MAGIC FLUTE will be simulcast live on Saturday, April 28, 2012 at 7:30 PM (doors open at 6:00 PM) at Cowboys Stadium, the high-tech home of the Dallas Cowboys at One Legends Way in Arlington, Texas. Patrons will be able to enjoy a complete, unabridged live performance on the world's largest high-definition video board structure, comprised of four massive viewing screens (the largest, 72 feet tall and 160 feet wide) suspended directly above the playing field.

The April 28th performance, live from the Winspear Opera House, is The Rosemary and Roger Enrico Foundation Performance.

THE MAGIC FLUTE will star soprano Ava Pine, the Dallas Opera's very first Resident Young Artist, in the role of Pamina. Ms. Pine, a Baroque specialist, made her Dallas Opera debut as Anna in the Dallas Opera 2006 production of Nabucco, and has appeared on the Dallas Opera stage in numerous roles including Adele in Die Fledermaus, Zozo in The Merry Widow, Elvira in L'italiana in Algeri, the Slave in Salome and, most recently, as one of three featured artists in the Dallas Opera's Family Concert, performed in the Winspear last November.ctress, dancing, flirting and pretty much tying everyone around her little finger."

Earlier this season, Ms. Pine appeared with the DSO in Mendelssohn's Symphony No. 2 conducted by Jaap van Zweden, Bach cantatas with the New Jersey Symphony, and Handel's Messiah with Boston Baroque and Duke University. She also made her role debut as Susanna in Le nozze di Figaro at Opera Colorado and sang the title role in Handel's Theodora at the University of North Texas with Dallas Opera Music Director Graeme Jenkins conducting.

Ava Pine's performance is made possible with support from The Charron and Peter Denker Rising Stars Endowment Fund.

Alongside Ms. Pine, the Dallas Opera has cast tenor Shawn Mathey as Tamino. "He is simply one of the finest Mozartean tenors in the world," explains Artistic Director Jonathan Pell "and we have spent years trying to lure him to Dallas for his long-awaited debut on our stage. I think audiences will find him absolutely thrilling, from his first note to his last."

Mr. Mathey's 2011-12 Season engagements have included debuts with San Francisco Opera as Don Ottavio and with Rome's Teatro dell'Opera as Lysander in Benjamin Britten's A Midsummer Night's Dream. He is also slated to record Bruckner's Mass No. 3 in F minor with Marek Janowski conducting the Orchestre de la Suisse Romand.

Bass-baritone Patrick Carfizzi returns in the role of the original Birdman, Papageno, Tamino's love-sick companion. Mr. Carfizzi's recent engagements include Paolo in Simon Boccanegra with San Francisco Opera, Brander in Le damnation de Faust (Berlioz) at New York's Metropolitan Opera, Nourabad in Les pêcheurs de perles for Seattle Opera, Dr. Bartolo in IL Barbiere di Siviglia for the Canadian Opera Company, and additional roles at the Met including Schaunard in La bohème, the Mandarin in Turandot, Masetto in Don Giovanni, Haly in L'italiana in Algeri and Peter Quince in Britten's A Midsummer Night's Dream.

Slovakian soprano L'ubica Vargicová has made the Queen of the Night a signature role since her operatic debut while still a student in Bratislava. She has appeared in prestigious venues from Carnegie Hall to Japan's finest concert halls, in the wake of her 2003 Salzburg Festival debut as Olympia in Les Contes d'Hoffmann (a production staged by David McVicar and conducted by Kent Nagano).

Bass Raymond Aceto, Sparafucile in the Dallas Opera's acclaimed 2011 production of Rigoletto, has appeared in more than a dozen productions with TDO since his 1995 debut as Monterone, portraying a host of characters from Leporello in Don Giovanni (2003), Colline in La bohème (1999), and Fafner in Siegfried (2000) to Lodovico in the Dallas Opera's 2009 inaugural production in the Winspear Opera House: Verdi's Otello.

Engagements this season have included the roles of Banquo in Macbeth at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, and Timur in Turandot for San Francisco Opera. This summer, after appearing as Sarastro in our production of Mozart's The Magic Flute, Mr. Aceto will portray the cruel Baron Scarpia in the Santa Fe Opera Festival production of Tosca.

Bass Kevin J. Langan, who has sung numerous roles with the Dallas Opera, will appear in the role of The Speaker. Mr. Langan has nearly 1300 performances to his credit and a vast repertoire (more than 80 roles from the early Baroque through the 20th century) that has made him a leading bass for San Francisco Opera for three decades. Recently, he became the first artist in SFO history to sing 300 performances in leading roles. Mr. Langan has also been a leading bass for Lyric Opera of Chicago for the past eleven years, in addition to fourteen seasons-and 165 performances-at Santa Fe. It was at Sante Fe Opera that he created the role of Henry Mosher in the 1996 world premiere of Tobias Picker's Emmeline, broadcast on PBS.

A native of New York City, Mr. Langan's talents can be enjoyed on numerous opera DVD releases. His orchestral appearances have ranged from the Cincinnati May Festival as Rocco in Fidelio under Music Director James Conlon, The Caramoor Festival as Rocco in Leonore under John Nelson, The Pittsburgh Symphony in Mahler's Das Klagende Lied, and the Chicago Symphony in Janacek's Glagolitic Mass (both under Michael Tilson Thomas). Other appearances include Trulove in The Rake's Progress with The St. Paul Chamber Orchestra under Edo de Waart, and Stravinsky's Oedipus Rex with The National Symphony in Washington.